1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fragmenting solidified bulk materials to facilitate the flow and removal of such materials from containment vessels, including bins, silos, hoppers and other transport vessels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bulk materials left undisturbed in a containment vessel like a bin or silo tend to settle, compress, and eventually solidify into a hard, amalgamated solid that is difficult to remove from the vessel. This happens frequently at cement manufacturing plants. When such bulk material must be removed from the containment vessel, to increase its storage capacity for example, manual labor is often used to fragment and remove the material. Using picks and shovels in such an environment is time consuming and increases the potential for personal injury.
To solve this problem, the applicant invented the BinWhip® system, which used a pneumatically-powered cleaning head and flails that was lowered into the containment vessel to fragment the solidified material instead of using human labor. The applicant later switched to a hydraulically-powered system. While effective, both the pneumatic and hydraulic systems used a cleaning head that rotated in one direction only. But because the BinWhip® represented a vast improvement over human labor, others in the industry copied applicant's pneumatic and hydraulic unidirectional systems. Thus, the current state of fragmentation systems that employ rotating flails to fragment solidified bulk materials uses a unidirectional cleaning head configured to spin in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, but not simultaneously.
Whether pneumatically or hydraulically driven, the cleaning head of such systems require a hose system to carry the pressurized fluid to a motor system, which is typically housed within or proximate the cleaning head. The reactive torque that results from the flails striking the solidified material, however, puts significant rotational forces on the hose connecting the power unit to the cleaning head. As rotational speeds increase to achieve greater striking force (i.e., increasing the rotational speed of the cleaning head and flails to increase the impact forces on the solidified material), the torque forces on the cleaning head and attached hose system also increase. Under conditions when the bulk material is resistant to fragmentation, like with cement for example, increasing the rotational speed beyond 400 RPM, for example, can cause the hose system to twist and coil back on itself, potentially damaging the hose system and increasing the risk of personal injury or property damage. Consequently, the hose system's resistance to the torque created by the rotating cleaning head and flails limits the speed and efficiency of unidirectional single head cleaning systems.
Thus, there is a need for a system that can significantly the efficiency of fragmenting hardened, solidified bulk materials to assist in their removal from containment vessels. The disclosure herein accomplishes that objective.